Ranked #12 in popularity, general social sciences is one of the most sought-after associate degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual looked at 5 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best General Social Sciences Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,066 associate degrees in general social sciences to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great General Social Sciences School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of general social sciences for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of associate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their associate degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on general social sciences students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other general social sciences students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for general social sciences to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general social sciences related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general social sciences students working on their associate degree.
The social sciences school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best General Social Sciences Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region.
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It is difficult to beat Northern Virginia Community College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in general social sciences. Northern Virginia Community College is a very large public college located in the suburb of Annandale.
Students who graduate with their associate from the social sciences program report average early career income of $23,637.
Tidewater Community College is a wonderful option for students interested in an associate degree in general social sciences. Located in the midsize city of Norfolk, Tidewater Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Associate recipients from the general social sciences program at Tidewater Community College make $6,240 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Any student who is interested in an associate degree in general social sciences needs to take a look at Reynolds Community College. Reynolds Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the suburb of Richmond.
Soon after graduation, social sciences associate recipients typically make an average of $18,164 in the first five years of their career.
Every student who is interested in an associate degree in general social sciences needs to take a look at Thomas Nelson Community College. TNCC is a medium-sized public college located in the suburb of Hampton.
General Social Sciences associate degree recipients from Thomas Nelson Community College receive an earnings boost of around $2,293 above the average earnings of general social sciences graduates.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Your choice of general social sciences for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
